Gaming devices take many forms, such as video gaming devices which conduct video reel slot machine games or video card games, mechanical slot machines, electronic table games, or the like. However, all these gaming devices issue awards similarly. That is, the awards are issued to the player in currency or a form representing currency.
For example, in a typical gaming device, currency is deposited into the gaming device via a bill acceptor, or a voucher representing currency is deposited into the gaming device via a ticket receiver. The amount deposited is tracked as gaming credits in a credit register in the gaming device. Casino gaming devices are well known in the art. Such devices may be embodied as spinning reel slot machines, video slot machines, video poker machines or the like. These machines are played by a player making a wager and prompting play. A game processor, such as a computer processor, selects and displays an outcome. In a typical slot machine, card game machine, or the like, the processor selects and displays an outcome by randomly selecting and displaying game indicia (such as slot reel symbols, playing cards, or the like). A determination is made whether the outcome is a winning or losing outcome based on the combination of game indicia selected and displayed. Depending on the type of game, the combinations may be examined based on some predefined constraint such as predefined pay lines, or the like. While different games treat awards different, generally speaking, the player is rewarded for winning outcomes and winnings are added to the credit register. Losing outcomes usually result in the loss of the player's wager, e.g. the player's wager amount is retained by the gaming device. Upon completing a play session, the player depresses a “cash out” button and the balance in the credit register is provided to the player in the form of cash, coin, or, more commonly, a voucher.
It has become popular to provide gaming devices with secondary features, such as bonus games, side bets, bonus awards, secondary games, or the like. For example, in a conventional bonus feature gaming device, a player places a wager and plays a base game to conclusion. If the outcome of the base game includes a trigger condition, a bonus feature is enabled. The bonus feature may entail the display of bonus outcome selections where the player makes a selection to reveal a bonus. In another popular game, a bonus feature is embodied as an electro-mechanical wheel that spins to display a bonus amount.
Gaming devices often include displays of bonus award amounts to attract and entice players to the gaming device. However, most bonus award amounts in existing gaming devices are static, i.e., do not change. Those bonus award amounts that do change, do so because they are funded as progressive awards. Such progressive bonus award amounts constitute a progressive pool to which a portion of the player's wager is contributed. Thus, the progressive pool from which the progressive bonus award amount is derived, grows with each wager received for play of the game. The consequence of this is that, while progressive bonus award amounts change, they are (a) not personalized to the player and (b) are not based on the player's activity on the gaming device, let alone the player's activities outside the casino.